November 2023 CCTM NewsletterMessage from the Board: AnnMarie Cunningham, Membership Chair
Welcome to the November 2023 CCTM Newsletter. CCTM is a non-profit designed to support educators with the teaching and learning of mathematics. This month our board message is by AnnMarie Cunningham, our CCTM Membership Chair. In her message AnnMarie discusses how she accumulated her “network of math teachers” and how her membership and involvement in CCTM expanded that network significantly. Click Here to Read the Welcome Message Upcoming Events, Celebrations, Happenings, and Opportunities (ECHO)
Click here to view upcoming CCTM math events and happenings, including:
Teacher Voice - Math and CTE Connections
Each newsletter we will highlight the voice of educators within Colorado to share some of their amazing work and ideas. In this issue, Jen Moriarty, CCTM tech specialist and CTE Instructor discusses the natural connections between mathematics and Career and Technical Education. Click here to read more! Practical Practices - Connecting Representations
In our Practical Practices section of the newsletter, we highlight practices that you can incorporate in your classrooms, including curated links to outside resources to build your knowledge of that practice. In this issue, we hear how the protocol of Connecting Representations (from the “Teaching for Thinking” book study presented by CCTM) can teach us so much about students by simply asking “WHY”. Click here to read more! Spotlighting Colorado Mathematics Educators and TeamsThis section of our newsletter allows us to recognize the amazing mathematics teams, educators, and leaders in our community. This month we want to spotlight an amazing 6th grade math team from Delta County schools. The five 6th grade math teachers at the four traditional middle schools have worked together to align their curriculum, scope and sequence, and common assessments. They meet on a biweekly basis to share updates on pacing, lesson structure, use of digital resources, assessment results, and other important topics. Several of these teachers have also implemented routines and practices from Teaching for Thinking (Kelemanik and Lucenta, 2022) and Building Thinking Classrooms (Liljedahl, 2020) which is reshaping the look and feel of the learning that is taking place in their classrooms. This team will receive a care package of teacher goodies as well as CCTM shirts or Water Bottles! If you want to nominate an educator, leader, or team, please use the following form. Those selected to be featured in the spotlight will receive an educational care package (and the person nominating will also receive a care package). Use this link to nominate an individual or a team! Please click here to read more about these amazing educators. Message from the Board: Megan Korponic, NCTM Representative
Click here to read more NCTM news! Trivia - A History of MathematicsEach newsletter will have a trivia question. From those that answer correctly, five winners will be drawn and receive CCTM swag (either a water bottle or a tee-shirt). THIS MONTH’s TRIVIA QUESTION: This mathematician grew up in the Cherokee Nation and earned a master’s degree in mathematics from Colorado State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Colorado). She is also known as the first Native American female aerospace engineer. Who is she? Last month, we asked readers: Congratulations to all of those that responded Ada Lovelace. The following Colorado educators will receive CCTM merchandise for their correct response: Patsy Burenheide (Weld RE5J Johnstown Milliken), Jessica Compton (St. Mary Catholic School), Kirby Moore (Platte Valley High School), Jennifer Dernier (Pueblo West High School), and Susan Diaz-Meshejian (Abraham Lincoln High School - Denver). Read below to learn more about Ada Lovelace! Colorado Math Teacher Journal - Featured ArticleFeatured Article: A Productive Math Struggle: Questions and Assessments (from “Most Popular Papers”) Jenni Harding, University of Northern Colorado Abstract: The focus is on productive math struggle questions. Questions given to pose during instruction, to have mathematical conversations, and to evaluate learning. A rubric is provided to evaluate student math conversations. An effective and efficient structure is created where students can delve deeper into mathematics through group discussions. Get YOUR Word OutWould you like to advertise or elevate an upcoming mathematical opportunity happening around you - in your school, district, region? Do you want to celebrate successes in your mathematical community? Share your happenings in the CCTM’s next newsletter? Click HERE to submit your events, news or celebrations and be included in the next CCTM Newsletter’s ECHO (Events, Celebrations Happenings, and Opportunities) Section. |
Each newsletter highlights upcoming events, celebrations, happenings, and opportunities relevant to Colorado mathematics educators.
The 2023 NCTM Annual Meeting and Exposition was held in Washington D.C., October 25-28. Megan shares how each day was filled with learning, doing mathematics, asking the tough questions, and building our future. It was humbling to share the work we are doing in Colorado around professional learning across the state, and honoring to engage with other states working with the Launch Years Initiative.